Tag Archive - bonnie ponce

The New Bible-for Secular Humanist

June 9, 2011 in Faith and Culture, General, Staff Posts, Writing and Publishing with 4 Comments

Bonnie Ponce

The Secular Bible – Click here to read the whole story.

This makes me sad that someone has written a “bible” for all the non-religious people, though A. C. Grayling claims that there is something there for everyone.

“The question arose early in British academic A.C. Grayling’s career: What if those ancient compilers who’d made Bibles, the collected religious texts that were translated, edited, arranged and published en masse, had focused instead on assembling the non-religious teachings of civilization’s greatest thinkers?

What if the book that billions have turned to for ethical guidance wasn’t tied to commandments from God or any one particular tradition but instead included the writings of Aristotle, the reflections of Confucius, the poetry of Baudelaire? What would that book look like, and what would it mean?

Decades after he started asking such questions, what Grayling calls “a lifetime’s work” has hit bookshelves. “The Good Book: A Humanist Bible,” subtitled “A Secular Bible” in the United Kingdom, was published this month. Grayling crafted it by using more than a thousand texts representing several hundred authors, collections and traditions.”

This bible is a collection of the greatest human philosophies from the east and west and there are probably some interesting or even inspiring ideas but the problem is that they are from men. I believe that the Holy Bible is completely inspired by God that his ideas were put onto parchments and scrolls by men but they were God’s words. I feel that this bible written by Grayling will lead people that have never read the Holy Bible into thinking they are of equal importance.

What do you think?  What impact will it have on our culture?

Bonnie Ponce is the Director of Support Raising for Relief and lives in Huntsville, Texas with her husband and betta fish.  She has a BA in English from Sam Houston State University.  After work she enjoys relaxing with a good book or working on her novel.

Sudden Loss

June 2, 2011 in General with 0 Comments

Bonnie Ponce

Bonnie Ponce urges Relief readers to pray for the people who have been hit hard by the recent tornadoes. There seems to be a lot of natural disasters happening lately.  Joplin, Missouri was hit hard by tornados last week and the Springfield Massachusetts was also hit hard.  In times of natural disasters we see so many tough pictures of destruction and chaos.  Families left homeless or a loved one gone, they are stunned by how quickly their lives changed for the worse in a matter of minutes.  But also there are pictures of hope, people gathering, hugging, praying, and handing out food and water to survivors.  It is in the times of greatest loss that people often turn to God.  In loss we realized that we are not self sufficient and able to hold everything together and we search for answers.  The deepest longing of our hearts wants to know that God cares about us, our hurts, pains, loss, and needs.  So I challenge you to pray for the people of Joplin and Springfield that they would be comforted while they rebuild their lives.

Bonnie Ponce is the Director of Support Raising for Relief and lives in Huntsville, Texas with her husband and betta fish.  She has a BA in English from Sam Houston State University.  After work she enjoys relaxing with a good book or working on her novel.

Significant Moments

May 19, 2011 in Faith and Culture, General, Staff Posts with 0 Comments

Bonnie Ponce

When faced with a challenge, look for a way, not a way out.

-David Weatherford

You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.

-Mary Pickford

This past weekend I had the joy of watching my sister walk across a stage and receive a diploma for her bachelor degree in business administration.  I was so proud of her!  It took her a little longer than some people, but it isn’t how you start that is important, it’s how you finish.  And she finished strong!  When I think back through life, every significant moment is made up of smaller seemingly small moments.  When she filled out the application to go to college, there weren’t tons of people cheering; she was just sitting at the kitchen table filling out a form.  Each test she studied for, each project turned in lead to her walking across that stage.  Isn’t that how life is, though?  For our authors, they wouldn’t be published in our journal unless they were inspired to write, then they wrote out a poem or a story, pushing through writers block and frustrating revisions.  But the final product is to be published.

It’s interesting how all the small choices we make in life lead to the significant moments that we treasure in life.  So maybe instead of just celebrating the big moments we should reflect on the small moments, the decisions that we make every day and cherish those as well.  It is the little moments that lead us to the celebrations.  For Relief, we long for an awesome donor to write us a big check, but realistically, it is the little gifts that add up and make a big difference.  If you didn’t give during our LoveRelief campaign, that is okay because there is still the opportunity to give to Relief.  You can go to our donation page for more information, http://www.reliefjournal.com/buy/support-the-cause/.  Thank you!

Bonnie Ponce is the Director of Support Raising for Relief and lives in Huntsville, Texas with her husband and betta fish. She has a BA in English from Sam Houston State University. After work she enjoys relaxing with a good book or working on her novel.

Face to Face

May 12, 2011 in Faith and Culture, General, Staff Posts with 1 Comment

Bonnie Ponce

We need not exert ourselves and try to force ourselves to believe, or try to chase doubt out of our hearts.  Both our just as useless.  It begins to dawn on us that we can bring everything to Jesus, no matter how difficult it is, and we need not be frightened away by our doubts or our weak faith, but only tell Jesus how weak our faith is  We have let Jesus into our hearts   And He will fulfill our hearts’ desires.
-O. Hallsby

Give us, O Lord, steadfast hearts that cannot be dragged down by false loves; give us courageous hearts that cannot be warn down by trouble; give us righteous hearts that cannot be sidetracked by unholy or unworthy goals.  Give to us also, our Lord and God, understanding to know you, diligence to look for you, wisdom to recognize you, and a faithfulness that will bring us to see you face to face.
- Thomas a Kempis

I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?
- C. S. Lewis
Till We Have Faces

Till We Have Faces is a book that I highly value.  It is the last fictional book written by Lewis and it is the culmination of his years of study.  It is the retelling of Cupid and Psyche set in a made up country and narrated by Orual, the older sister of Psyche.  She chases knowledge and facts.  Psyche is sacrificed to the gods and Orual hates the gods who “stole” her sister.  She tries to save Psyche from what she believes to be a nightmare.  Psyche is happy but listens to Orual and is punished.  Orual realizes that she has caused Psyche much pain and suffering.  She writes out her complaints to the gods and has a dream in which she is standing before the gods outlining her suffering and the injustices of her life.  But she realizes that all pretension has to be stripped away, any thing she thinks she knows is rubbish.  To face the gods, one must have to be barefaced.

I love this story because of the truths that it presents.  We can chase after knowledge and facts, even theology, but when it comes down to it we have to bear our hearts to God to make ourselves be vulnerable to Him so we can know Him and be honest with ourselves.  When we face God face to face we have to strip away all the masks and veils that we hide behind, other wise we are just standing in the presence of God lying about who we are.

Bonnie Ponce is the Director of Support Raising for Relief and lives in Huntsville, Texas with her husband and betta fish. She has a BA in English from Sam Houston State University. After work she enjoys relaxing with a good book or working on her novel.

The Driving Force of Passion

May 5, 2011 in Faith and Culture, General, Staff Posts with 0 Comments

Bonnie Ponce

Bonnie writes about the things that she is passionate about. Passion compels us forward into action. While there are several things I support, there are a few that I am passionate about.  I am passionate about being holistically pro-life, my personal theology, and as shallow as it comparatively sounds, reading a good book.

I love to read so when I read a really awesome book or story I am totally absorbed in the plot, the characters, and the emotion – yes, I occasionally laugh or cry as I read. I get so invested in the plot that real life fades a bit – I go through the motions but my mind is on the story. After I finish a novel I always feel a little deflated and sad that my story is over and sometimes I wonder what the characters would do next.

Passion also drives us to invest in the things that we care about, either through volunteering or giving financially. It also means that we invest our time in the things that are important to us. I would like to say that while our LoveRelief campaign is over, consider giving back to a journal that supports great stories.

Bonnie Ponce is the Director of Support Raising for Relief and lives in Huntsville, Texas with her husband and betta fish. She has a BA in English from Sam Houston State University. After work she enjoys relaxing with a good book or working on her novel.

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